the happenings of late

I apologize for the posts being few and far between, and while I don't know who actually looks at this blog, I will try to be better about updating it.
This last month we went to a Civil War Train. To celebrate by Father-in-Laws Birthday, we went up to Lebanon Oh, about 45 minutes from us, where they have restored an old train, and do themed train rides throughout the year. Since he Loves the Civil War part of our history we chose that theme.  We got on the train and took a 30 minute ride on a very hot 90+ degree weather day, with people in full Civil War costume.............they looked hot,

The Lebanon Train does 2 civil war train a year, one is  a reinactment and the other is a visit to a camp of the soldiers.  We meant to go to the reinactment, but ended up at the other one.  It ended up being good though.  They had permission to blow the cannon..............it was crazy loud. They also shot off a pistol, which startled the crowd. 

Here is the family in front of the cannon.  Luke is wearing a hat and Terry is wearing hats and coat of the soldiers.  And you can't see Lars but he is strapped to my back fast asleep.

On another note....we went to our first Cinci Reds Baseball Game. It was fun and as we were looking for our seat we met up with the mascot......I can't remember what he is called. Lars was a little nervous about him, he couldn't keep his eyes off him. On our way to the Stadium(we parked across the river) we had to walk over a bridge to get to the stadium. We got to cross over one of the first Suspension Bridges built in the US.  The man who built it later designed and started the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. He passed away before the Brooklyn Bridge was completed and his son finished construction as an invalid from his bed, with his wife relaying his instruction to his contractor.  It is quite an interesting story, and  David McCullough wrote a biography of the Roeblings and the construction of the bridge.  Although, the bridge over the Ohio River is much smaller than the Brooklyn Bridge, it is neat to see his inspiration for the Brooklyn Bridge.  

Milestones......Hooray

With a few previous attempts with no real commitment, Last week marked the "real" start to my potty training Lars.
Perhaps my previous attempts just got him used to sitting on his potty, but he never actually went potty. Recently I was reading in Baby Whisperer to put him on his potty right when he wakes up and then 20 minutes after he eats . So I bought a book "Pete's Potty" which we read whenever he is in the bathroom and I tried it and Voilla!! He went potty in his little boy potty. A few days later with no other incidents in the potty, he went poo.....I was sooo thrilled. Today he has done both, and we have had a dry diaper all day. It is so motivating to see this progress and to think he might be out of diapers soon.
I'm still giving myself a couple of months to make sure he is good and trained. My goal is when Lars enters Nursery he will be in big boy undies. My mom has had great advice with it as she had us all potty trained between 1 and 1 1/2 year old. She put on a timer so every 45 minutes we were put on the potty. If we didn't go then she put us back on 15-20 minutes later. That way she was catching most of it and apparently we got the idea becaue it worked. She says that a couple of weeks of that and we knew what to do. Obviously night time is a little trickier because you have to wake them up so they learn to know when they are sleeping that they have to go. However, seeing as Lars is still in a crib we will work on the night time training a little later.
Hooray for Lars

Also, while he was going potty this morning he did the sign for ball and dog (they are in his potty book) which he has never done before.
He is funny, his first sign was duck and probably his second word has been Quack or Duck (he says them both even though they sound almost similar). he also does the food signs.....please, more, all done)
His first word was Hi.........and it is his favorite still. He has to say hi and wave to everyone that walks by us, whether at the grocery store, the pool, the park, everywhere. In the grocery store I talk to more people cause he is saying Hi to them. Such a social Kid.

We miss you.....

I am going to get a bit sentimental here, which is something I usually shy away from, especially in front of the whole world. However, 10 days ago marks our departure from the city we thought to stay in for a long time. We miss you NYC. 10 days ago we packed up the truck, headed to church to bless our baby boy and then drove out of the city. NYC is the first place Corey and I lived as newlyweds. Our honeymoon was driving a Uhaul from Utah to Manhattan, with a slight detour to Kentucky, to begin our life together. And it is the place(literally......we had a home birth) where our son was born. Some of the wonderful things we will remember from our time in the Big Apple
1. Corey received his masters degree in Fine Arts from the New York Academy of Art
2. I should have won an award for all the frequent flyer miles I racked up in the first 3 years, traveling 3-5 days each week, but didn't. What I did get was some arm muscles in my right arm from lugging my suitcase down into the subway then up onto the street and then on the m60 bus to LaGuardia.....woohoo!!
3. Went on our first and only (so far) helicopter ride
4. Went to some broadway shows on and off broadway
5. we were introduced by some great friends Ethopian food and loved it . (suprisingly Corey really enjoyed the food even though he dislikes the lentils I cook........whatup!)
6. New York Pizza and Bagels..........need I say more
7. The authentic "NY Deli" where you get the best sandwiches in the world
8. Walking everywhere! As much as I enjoy driving, I love that NY is so pedestrian friendly.
9. I miss my fruit and vegetable guy on the corner
10. Central Park......Corey and I used to go out every sunday in summer to a secluded spot and just read and nap in the afternoon sun eating fruit I picked up from my much missed fruit and vegetable guy.
11. Going to the grocery store with basket in hand and leaving because it got too heavy to carry.........and that was what we ate for the next few days. I get serious overstimulation when i enter the gargantuan grocery stores here
12. Running with a great partner (Jill) around Central Park
13. I just miss the energy of well educated ambitious people cramming manhattan with a purpose in mind and working their hearts out for more of something!.......I'm not talking tourists
14. I miss the birds outside my window.........it was always great to hear among the sirens and whizzing of cars the sounds of birds chirrping.
15. I miss the quiet of the city streets when everyone left for holidays...........it is so fun to walk around when the streets are empty and everything has an abandoned feel to it.
16. Corey misses Ultimate Frisbee.
17. Game Nights and Knitting Night .........wonderful friends getting together
18. Last but not least........WE MISS OUR NEW YORK FRIENDS!!

New York..........you are a wonderful part of our lives and maybe one day we will be able to retire to your busy streets and enjoy your energy again when we are old.

a Little Late to the Party

I was late getting started, however, you can't say I lack for team spirit......Team Edward that is!! Hahaha.
(Secrets to be told......if there is a team Carlisle I would be on it. He is way hotter to me, even though he is only a secondary character.)
A couple of months ago, Corey's boss, shocked that we had not seen Twilight, lent us the movie. I watched it while Corey was at work. Not having read the books, (I went through my vampire stage many many years ago) but knowing there was a lot of hubub about how great they are, I kept an open mind. I thought the movie was entertaining enough, albeit the characters seemed fairly shallow and the plot somewhat slow.
As the day went on I just kept thinking about the characters and little things from the movie, and decided that I needed to see it again. I ended up watching it about 5 times in a week. So then while Corey was working late one Friday night, on my way out of the grocery store I saw one of those red box video rentals and decided to rent New Moon. By now I was a complete fan! I was planning on keeping it only one night but we ended up watching it a couple of times and returning it 3 days later.
So Corey's Boss, the reason for my love of Twilight and Corey's "it's o.k" of Twilight, insisted we all go to Eclipse together. Corey was the only guy (what a good sport). For my birthday Corey's co-workers got me a Team Edward t-shirt. The plan was that the other girls and I would all wear them, but ya............who in this picture is wearing their's.................YEP!! only MOI!! The movie was great! I ended up reading the 3rd and 4th books so I am up to date on the happenings of Twilght!

Camping

After a 5 year hiatus from camping, partly due to living in NYC, we finally went camping. We got to cumberland falls in 96 degree 90% humidity weather. It was HOT!!. But look how beautiful.

Cumberland falls is the only place that has a moonbow, seen only on a full moon, with clear skies. Well we had the full moon and clear skies, until about 5 in the afternoon of the full moon, and then everything clouded over and the rain came...............so no moonbow. but we saw some beautiful falls and some beautiful hiking. It wasn't hiking in utah but it was great to get out into nature again.

Lars loved it. He would be outside 24/7 if i would let him. he did great and got dirty and played in the mud and gravel, had fun swimming in a lake and hiking in the backpack.

All in all a very successful trip.

My Utopia

As many of you know, I love Nutrition. I love reading about it and learning all there is to know regarding holistic healing and mind body wellness. And much thanks to a dear friend in NYC (Kassie) my eyes have been opened about "the conspiricy" behind the food we eat. Before Kassie my learning had leaned more toward holistic healing more than on prevention; That is not to say I didnt' eat well. I haven't eaten much in the way of refined foods except for the occasional thing in social settings, but there were still changes I could definatly make to improve even that. So this weeks marks a great turning point. I now live in Kentucky where homebirth is illegial (which is unfortunate) and it seems Natural Things were going to be hard to come by (Ex: heath food stores, homeopathics etc.) However I have finally found a farm where i can by Real milk and Pastured eggs. My first delivery came this week and i must say it tastes delicious. Since childhood I have never tolerated milk well. As a baby my mother says i threw it up a lot and perhaps i was mildly allergic (I now see that my body didn't like dead milk: the stuff that has been killed by pasturazation and mangled by homogenization) But real milk tastes great with it wonderful cream on top and i haven't had any problems drinking it. I am now looking into a fruit/veggie coop to participate in. The only thing left is to find a meat supplier to buy pastured beef and chickens. In my reading lately It has come to my attention how much nutrition is lost because we are feeding our cows the wrong foods. They were not meant to only consume grains. Whereby they are not absorbing enough good nutrients..........affecting in turn our consumption of beef is now lacking in nutrients.
It has gotten me really excited and i have finally decided to finish getting my degree in Holistic Nutrition.
My dream (although probably too grandious) would be to heal the world with natural methods.
I just know that what you eat is sooo important to not only your physcial health but to your mental health as well. I have a grandfather who in his late 90's doesn't take any medication. Can you imagine everyone over 30 to never have to take the 20 pills you're going to have to as you get older because you didn't take that great care of your bodies. I think much of what is happening in the world would stop if we really took a moment to take care of our bodies, treat them with the respect they deserve and feed them real foods. All these mental chemical diseases would dwindle and it might even be the cure to cancer:) seeing as 100 years ago cancer was a rare disease. This is my utopia.................although realisticly i know i won't be able to cure the whole world but if i help in my small area maybe it will inspire others. So Thank you Kassie for being my inspiration and for opening my eyes.

A Little Tangy

We were eating strawberries the other night and he was making such a hilarious face. And the fake laugh.........he does it all the time. He makes me laugh all the time.